Samsung has already faced ban in Europe and Australia and it now seems that it will get another ban in United States as US District Judges comments in favor of Apple.
Since the start of legal battle between the two companies, Samsung has been losing every battle. First, Samsung products were blocked in different parts of Europe in August after Apple filed copyrights infringement case and then last week, Federal Court of Australia ordered a temporary ban on sale of Samsung’s latest tablet Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia. On Thursday, Samsung received another setback when US District Judge Lucy Koh said that Samsung’s Galaxy tablets infringe Apple’s iPad patents. But she added that Apple has problems in establishing the validity of its patents.
In April, Apple filed an infringement case against Samsung saying that the Asian company has “slavishly copied” its iPhone and iPad. The company requested to block sale of Samsung products including the Samsung Galaxy S 4G smartphone and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in the United Sates. According to US patent laws, Apple has to show that Samsung has infringed its patents and its patents are valid under the patent laws. Wireless carriers like Verizon and T-Mobile USA has opposed Apple’s request as it would cut into holiday sales.
Kathleen Sullivan, Attorney of Samsung Electronics, has a different view about the law as he argues that in order to deny Apple from winning the infringement suit; they only need to show that it has asked enough questions regarding the validity of Apple’s patent claims. “We think we’ve clearly raised substantial questions,” Sullivan said on Thursday during the hearing at California Federal Court.
Apple’s Attorney Harold McElhinny believes that his company’s design of the latest tablet is far more superior to then previous version. So, the patents of Apple should not be invalidated by designs that came before the launch of latest tablets. The District Judge has often remarked about the resemblance of both of the tablets. During a hearing, she held two black glass tablets in each hand and asked the attorney of Samsung to identify his company’s tablet. Sullivan who was ten feet away from Judge said, “Not at this distance your honor,” said Sullivan. Moment’s later one of the Samsung lawyers identified the right tablet.
According to spokeswoman Apple, Kristen Huguet, “Apple spokeswoman Kristen Huguet said, “It’s no coincidence that Samsung’s latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad … This kind of blatant copying is wrong, and we need to protect Apple’s intellectual property when companies steal our ideas”. But Samsung’s spokesman believes that Apple’s request of injunction is “groundless”.
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